The USA automatically qualified for 3×3 women’s basketball at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and on Wednesday revealed which four players would make up the team. Hailey Van Lith, Cameron Brink, Cierra Burdick and Rhyne Howard will be the quartet looking to take home a gold medal under the orders of head coach Jennifer Rizzotti.
Van Lith, Brink and Burdick led the United States to victory in the FIBA 3×3 World Cup in 2023, although on that occasion they were joined by Linnae Harper, who won’t be involved this summer. In the tournament in Vienna, the USA won seven of their eight games, defeating France in the final.
Howard, drafted in as Harper’s replacement, currently plays in the WNBA for the Atlanta Dream, who will face Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever on Thursday 13 June. The 24-year-old shooting guard was named MVP at the (5×5) FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in 2021, which the US won.
3×3 basketball at the 2024 Olympics: teams, dates, venue, format…
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, the 3×3 basketball tournament will be played in Place de la Concorde, one of Paris’ major public squares, from 30 July to 5 August. The USA will face China, France, Germany, Canada, Spain, Azerbaijan and Australia in an eight-team group, with the two teams that win the most games advancing directly to the semifinals.
The teams who finish from third to sixth will play two “quarterfinals” for a place in the last four.
What are the rules in 3×3 basketball?
3×3 basketball is considerably different to 5×5 basketball, which most are more accustomed to.
The most obvious change is that games are played on a half-court, with both teams attempting to score points in the same basket. Games last a single period of 10 minutes, with a 12-second shot clock.
The winning team is the first to reach 21 points, or the one leading after the 10 minutes are up. Baskets made inside the arc are worth a single point, with those scored from behind the line earning two points.
There is no break after a basket is scored, with the team on the offense switching to defense as play immediately restarts beyond the two-point line.
An exciting, action-packed, relatively new brand of basketball, which the United States have performed well at so far, as you’d expect. The USA Women’s team won the inaugural Olympic event in Tokyo in 2021 and have also won three World Cup since the senior team was formed in 2012.